Ascend X
Coverd
A Story of Success in Social FinTech
Before Ascend
Coverd is a gamified personal finance platform that
helps users manage their finances with a fun twist: real-
money gaming!
When we connected, they faced uncertainty:
Their TestFlight app was live, but it was still early: buggy,
experimental, and in need of clear user feedback
How would Gen Z receive the concept?
Which features would resonate most?
What would be their true differentiator?
Our Approach
E s t a b l i s h e d c a m p u s p r e s e n c e
G a r n e r e d 1 5 0 0 + a p p l i c a t i o n s
U s e d a 3 - s t a g e i n t e r v i e w p r o c e s s
R e c r u i t e d t o p s t u d e n t t a l e n t
R a n 6 - w e e k t r a i n i n g p r o g r a m
D i d h u n d r e d s o f u s e r i n t e r v i e w s
S h a r e d d o c u m e n t e d f i n d i n g s
F i n d c o n s e n s u s a m o n g s t i n s i g h t s
L e d w e e k l y p r o d u c t c a l l s
G a v e a c t i o n a b l e p r o d u c t i n s i g h t s
D e t e r m i n e d C o v e r d ’ s g o a l s
A s s e m b l e d 1 0 - p e r s o n t e a m
A s s i g n e d p r o j e c t m a n a g e r
I n t e g r a t e d t e a m i n t o p r o d u c t
E n g a g e m e n t k i c k - o f f
I t e r a t e d a l o n g s i d e c l i e n t t e a m
M a i n t a i n e d w e e k l y c a d e n c e
A c t e d a s a n e x t e n s i o n o f C o v e r d
R e p l a c e d d o u b t w i t h c o n f i d e n c e
B u i l d f a s t e r t h a n e v e r b e f o r e
P r e - E n g a g e m e n t
P u t T e a m T o W o r k
S e t - U p T e a m
I t e r a t e W / Y o u r I C P
All it took from Coverd was joining four one-hour calls — we handled
60+ hours of research, 100+ interviews, and every insight in between.
FROM THE FOUNDERS
“Early feedback is super helpful because once we ship a
design, it’s hard and costly to change, especially if key
features were missed. Catching those things early saves a
lot of back and forth.”
“You're providing a group of interviewees who actually
reflect the user, and that's why it's valuable. A lot of people
think they understand their users, but they really don't, I
guess not like this.”
“There are a lot of companies selling services to startups
and, you know, we run into them all the time, but you guys
are probably the best we’ve experienced.”
